SPACEWALKER takes place during the height of the Cold War as the United States and Soviet Union are locked in a battle for control of space. They are racing to be the first to have an astronaut/ cosmonaut to do a spacewalk. To set off one of mankind's most ambitious missions, the USSR pair the unlikely duo of a seasoned war veteran, Pavel Belyayev, and a fearless test-pilot, Alexei Leonov. Without proper testing, and inside a tiny spaceship, the two astronauts launch into the unknown to take on what no man has done before. SPACEWALKER is their story before, during and after the famous spacewalk. It is one of the most intense space dramas I have seen. It is very detailed in the capturing the 1960s era of the space race form the Soviet Union's point of view from the higher ups to the one working in the program (and how sometimes the philosophy of the Communist Party gets in the way of the space program). I never heard of this story rom the history of the Space Race. I read more about the Space Race from the US POV. I now need to track down the movie on Yuri Gagarin. I did read they cut out Gagarin from this movie so he wouldn't overshadow Leonov even though both of them were close in real life.

SPECIAL FETAURES:
Two featurettes- THE FIRST WALK IN SPACE and THE STORY BEHIND SPACEWALKER. The featurettes take you behind the making of the movie and hear the story from the actual Cosmonaut, Alexei Leonov (who was also a consultant on this movie). Also a theatrical trailer is included in addition to previews for other releases including COMA

FINAL ANALYSIS: SPACEWALKER is another well crafted space drama from Russia being the second Russian Space Program movie that I have seen. It is well worth for fans of THE RIGHT STUFF, APOLLO 13, and FIRST MAN to check this one out.

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